He's a Master at getting you to think. He's a master at getting you to re-think. He's a master at many things including classical music and is the new Redleaf author of "Living Like a Child." (The man has 2 Grammy nominations, is a world class concert performer and free lances as a movie score composer.) What's he doing at NAEYC you ask?

That would take me at least three hours to explain -- as that was the length of his seminar yesterday morning to launch the international gathering. We had participants from far-flung locales of Mexico, Hawaii, Missouri and the Carolinas in attendance plus one in-home provider from just a couple miles down the road!!!

***Here I remembered to snap a picture of Enrique supervising his concentric circles of trust building in the gathered participants. This was the seminar launch in establishing some group cohesiveness. Enrique led the group from simple introductory tidbits, such as 'what's your favorite food to eat?' all the way to 'which learning style is your biggest challenge' and on to 'which of the five LOVE LANGUAGES is your native tongue.'

Enrique is new to blogging and so I've taken the role of reporter here on his behalf. I got so involved in the group dramatic presentations -- that I totally forgot to take pictures of that process. Ye gads.(Huge apologies to our brand new reading audience.) Last month I just had the opportunity to pin Enrique down and 'interview' him on my own blog. You can read a more cohesive article of his many travels and insights by clicking right here.

One of the tidbits that I heard Enrique explain in depth was his 25-50-25 rule. It goes something like this. Twenty-five percent of the time we should be 'reviewing' material with the children. Half of the time we should be given to new material which is within the grasp of the majority of your students capability. Which leaves the final golden twenty-five percent of the time to be stretching the envelope.... leading the children into new and uncharted territory. Offering challenge and being bold with possibilities, recognizing the potential for phenomenal growth.

I've got to get back to the NAEYC exhibit hall, momentarily for the authors reception at Redleaf. This is the NAEYC event which launches my own first project with them, the collaborative book written by Connie Dow on 300 pages of dance ideas which includes my 2 CD set entitled, "One, Two. What Can I Do?" It's pretty staggering to realize that both Enrique + moi have our premiere projects with Redleaf unfurling here in Orlando -- at the same moment!!! We go back at least a dozen years in co-operative trainings. So today is a red letter Redleaf day for both of us!!! Hit publish and get on down the road!!